Thumbuto
by Monkey Ruler
Summary: A tiny, thumb-sized Naruto made just for a lonely Iruka. But with a prince charming like Gaara, who needs a happily ever after? Naruto would be happy with just finding home. AU based on Thumbelina. WARNING: this has gay love
1. Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in a little cottage deep in the countryside, lived a very maternal, very lonely man. The man wasn't lonely before, living with another man who made him very happy indeed, but.. well, that was a story to be told at another time. Now he was alone in his cottage with only animals to keep him company, and the dream that he would one day nurture and care for a child of his own. But adoption agencies weren't up and running in those times, and orphans were dirty little things that were either enslaved, criminals, or dead at infancy.

All the women thought he was terribly cute and sympathized with him, but they never really _clicked, _y'know? Umino Iruka was a sweet man, but he was just a friend.

One day a passing fairy heard Iruka's heart calling out for a child to nurture, and after observing the man for a few weeks showed up in his room with a magical seed.

"Plant this, sweet Iruka, and in thirty days and thirty nights you shall have a child."

Iruka thanked the fairy, knowing that they rarely granted the wishes of measly humans. While watering the plant, though, he still stayed at a safe distance. It was a shady looking fairy who gave him the seed, and he _had _heard of the swarm of "magic beans" that were being given away lately.

On the final day, a small bud appeared in the flower pot. The bud slowly blossomed, revealing a small boy almost as big as Iruka's thumb, sleeping in the fetal position and wearing a bright orange jumper. The boy let out a snort and yawned, blearily opening his eyes and rubbing them once, twice, before looking at the large face peering down at him.

The little boy smiles brightly.

"Hi! Are you my dad?"

Iruka nodded slowly, tilting his head at the peculiar flower and the shape it made when it bloomed. It was a horribly way to name a child, but he was waiting so long for his child he forgot to eat much in the excitement and the pattern of the flower _really _made him crave a bowl of ramen.

"I'll call you Naruto."

"Great! I'll call you daddy!"


	2. Chapter 2

"Naruto!" Iruka's voice echoes through the hall so loudly he almost doesn't hear the quiet giggle around the corner. But he is wired into Naruto, has a radar tuned in just to him, and can hear the little troublemaker even when the little nuisance thinks he's being quiet.

He glares at the bright orange graffitti coloring every inch of his walls and _the animals must have helped him, those bastards_. Millions of tiny thumb-sized pictures were everywhere. How could someone so small leave a mess so big?

The giggle turns into full on cackling, and the whiskered boy is now outside, the bark of a dog following the screech of his son. Naruto was probably riding on Jiraiya's head again, and the dog was probably laughing at Iruka. Not that he understood dog, that is. It just always seemed like Jiraiya was silently cracking jokes about him all the time.

Iruka sighed at his ruined walls, unable to stop the fond smile from making it's way across his face.

Then Naruto comes whizzing past him, riding on Jiraiya just as he thought, Gamabunta in the lead (and probably being chased.) Iruka's legs now have a long, orange streak across them.

"This is the last time we're having paint in the house!" Iruka warns, looking at what used to be his nice pants. Those were his 'going into town' pants, "Now get down from there!"

"Never!" Is Naruto's replying squeak, and Iruka just proceeds to the kitchen.

Once he had ramen on the stove, Naruto would settle down.

* * *

><p>"-and they lived happily ever after."<p>

Iruka ends the story with a happy sigh, father and son both wishing for a happily ever after with someone that was picture-book worthy. But they had each other, Iruka thought, looking fondly at his son. That was enough for him.

"Iruka?" Naruto asked, curled up in his father's hand, looking down at the large book in Iruka's lap. Jiraiya and Gamabunta were curled up by Iruka's feet, dozing off now that the story was over.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Do you think I'll ever woo a princess?" Iruka smiles and ruffles Naruto's hair with his index finger.

"Well, you're a handsome boy." Iruka supplied.

"Well I know _that._" Naruto grinned before leaping off of Iruka's hand to stomp on the prince and squint at the fairy princess on the page, "But when things like that happen, the two of them are about the same size, right? And there's no one I know my size."

Naruto looks up at his father with those big blue eyes and Iruka fought the urge to hug him. Maybe if Iruka had planted him in a bigger pot the boy would've grown to be a normal size and Iruka wouldn't have to fear for his son's life whenever he touched him.

"Their boobs will _suffocate _me!" Naruto exclaims, his eyes widening with fear.

Iruka resists the urge to laugh at his son.

"Well who knows what's out there, really. Maybe there's a whole other world that I'm too big to notice. After all, _you're _here, right?"

"Right..." Naruto is unconvinced.

"Now let's get ready for bed. Get your sleeping cap, and I'll set up the bath for you, okay?"

"Okay!"

* * *

><p>At that moment, unbeknownst to the happy family, a swarm of fairies were making their rounds, the leaves changing color as they passed.<br>"Ah, fall." Kankuro sighed, leaning back in his chariot and grinning at his sister, "Am I right?"

Temari waved the large fan that towered over even her strong frame and a gust of wind followed, dancing in the air and rustling the leaves. "You don't have a point to _make, _dumbass." She snapped, "What are you even _doing _right now? What use _are _you?"

"Hey, hey, hey, fall is your deal. Mine is the springtime, okay? Gaara is summer, and then winter's our vacation time. It's a system that works."

"Whatever. How's Gaara doing?"

"The same. Bored as hell with everything."

"Look at him," Temari comments, "Riding around on a _bumblebee _and he still looks like a statue."

"Hah, look at Uchiha. Always trying to look cooler than Gaara. Gaara _invented _stoicism."

"Well Sasuke's the one with the fanclub."

"Gaara has a fanclub, too. We all do, right?"

"Gaara, yes. You, no."

"Bitch." Kankuro mumbles.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

She whacked him with the fan regardless.

Temari was a Queen, not an idiot.

* * *

><p>AN: To people who thought Sasuke was going to be the fairy prince... I apologize.

But! The story isn't over yet, and I only have a vague idea where I'm going with this.


	3. Chapter 3

It was strange, working for Prince Gaara.

The last of the Uchiha line mused the enigma that was his prince while following the royal family and their various employees, his lip curling slightly at the sight of all of his fellow fairies rejoicing in the changing of the seasons. It may have taken a few years of practice, but Sasuke had practiced relentlessly until he could hold off the fairy dust that seeped out of every fairy's pore while flying. That coolness he pulled off was why he had a fanclub, while Neji only had admirers.

Gaara seemed to do it effortlessly. The bastard. It was as if he never had fairy dust at all, all dried up and heartless.

Every so often, though, a speck of sand would get in Sasuke's eye whenever he was following the bastard.

Strange bastard.

"I am taking a detour." Gaara warns seconds before he veers sharply to the right and off course.

"Shit!" Sasuke swears, swerving and almost crashing into another rider in an effort to follow the prince. Stupid Gaara, always so freaking _quiet _and spontaneous. How was he supposed to be his bodyguard when he could hardly keep _track _of the creeper?

* * *

><p>It was nighttime, and Naruto felt like singing.<p>

Most of the animals in the house were either tonedeaf, or skilled in ignoring him by now, so nobody really complained. They had no neighbors. He just finished bath time. He was not tired.

He was going to sing.

The thing with Naruto was, even though he was so small and cute, his voice carried. Far. And while he sang beautifully for such an obnoxious little thing, well... He was obnoxious and sang at all hours of the night.

Almost immediately after Naruto was born, Iruka invested in some strong earplugs and was fortunate enough not to have to hear Naruto's musical interpretation of his thumb-sized induced loneliness.

However, Prince Gaara, overcome with spontaneity and overwhelming boredom of the changing of the seasons (parades were useless, as were family and all the sparkles that insisted on blinding him,) did, in fact, hear the strange tiny singing thing. A blond singing thing, with little whisker marks on his cheeks, a human-sized toothbrush he was slow dancing with, and a large picture book open to a picture of two fairies getting married.

Unusual.

Gaara swerved yet again, leaving a cursing Uchiha behind, and made a beeline straight for the window cracked open. He gracefully stepped off of his bee, a single looking making it stay in place, while he walked into the room as if he owned it.

The blond took half a minute to notice the stranger staring at him.

"Hi! I'm Naruto!" Naruto stuck out his hand and the redhead tilted his gaze to observe the strange, whiskered blond. His wings fluttered behind him, and he saw the blond, Naruto, look at them in awe. "Cool wings! Where can I get some?"

"You have to be _born _with them, stupid." Another fairy fluttered in through the window, scoffing at the scene in front of him as soon as he popped off his helmet, "Gaara-sama, let's go. Your siblings must be worried by now."

Gaara turned a cold stare to the other fairy, "I do not follow your orders, Uchiha."

"Ha! Yeah, _U-chi-ha. Gaara-sama _wants to stay._" _Naruto stuck his tongue out after dragging out his name like it was poison.

"I am only thinking of you, Gaara-sama." Uchiha gave a courteous bow, "Surely a presence such as that," He nodded towards Naruto, "Can only hinder you."

"Hey, no one was talking to you, bastard!"

"I am not a lowly peasant such as _you, _idiot."

"What did you call me!"

"I-di-ot. Peasant."

"You bastard, I'll-"

"Oh please, taking an idiot like you on-"

"-grind your bones to make my-"

"-I'll eat you _and _your stupid dog-"

"-why don't you _sparkle _at me, I'm sure some might get in my-"

"-then after regurgitating you I will _shit _on your remains-"

"-your sword looks like it's made of _straw _from how tiny-"

"-and I'll leave you in your shit house-"

"-I will set your babies on fire! And then-"

Barking interrupted them and Uchiha immediately drew his sword towards Jiraiya's face, leaping in front of Gaara as if to protect him. Gaara did not care.

"What the hell!" Uchiha exclaimed, the same time Naruto jumped in front of the both of them.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled, throwing his hands up, "Don't eat them! Don't eat Gaara! Friend! FRIEND!"

Jiraiya growled warningly and laid back down on the ground, keeping one eye open and trained on the foreigners.

Gaara stared back, eerily, and Jiraiya was _not _creeped out.

"So, Gaara, right?"

Naruto reached out and clasped hands with him. Gaara's wings fluttered, and Sasuke frowned at the small bits of sand that floated to the ground. He did not like these signs.

"Are you guys the fairy _kingdom _fairies?"

"What other fairies are there?" Uchiha scoffs.

"No one asked you, Chacha!" Naruto stuck his tongue out again.

"_Uchiha _Sasuke."

"Whatever." Naruto scoffed.

"Where are your wings?" Gaara asks, and if it were coming from anyone else it would've sounded like an insult. But the lack of emotion in Gaara's voice made it hard for Naruto to get offended. So he didn't.

"Hm? I don't have any." Naruto shrugs, "Am I supposed to?"

Gaara shrugs in response.

Sasuke rolls his eyes, "I can't deal with this idiocy. I'll be waiting outside for you, Gaara-sama."

Gaara just nods and then turns his attention back to Naruto, who was getting a little flustered with the relentless staring.

"So you flew here?" Naruto asks, before his mind quickly moved past that, "If it's a fairy kingdom, that means you guys have princesses and stuff, right? Does your kingdom have a princess, Gaara? Is she blond and graceful?"

Gaara thinks for a moment. His sister could be considered graceful. It took a lot of grace to move the winds so powerfully. Or balance a fan in one hand while smacking Kankuro with the other.

He nods.

"Score! Can I visit the kingdom, Gaara? Can you take me there?"

"The kingdom is currently working on the seasons. They are not accepting guests."

"Oh." Naruto deflates, and Gaara finds himself wanting the blond to smile again.

"I could take you flying."

"Really!"

"Yes. We may ride on the bumblebee outside my window."

"Wow. Really!" Naruto grins widely, "I've never flown on something that _flew _before!"

At the excitement Naruto was showing, Gaara did not smile. He lost the capability years ago.

However, his eyes softened just a fraction.

* * *

><p>AN: So I have not been keeping up with Naruto. I've read some new stuff, but I think I stopped after the Pain invasion. Therefore, I am more comfortable with the old stuff. There might be Sai. There might be Orochimaru. There will definitely be fights with Sasuke and Naruto.

Also! If you are uncomfortable with homosexuality, then _please do not read any further_. There won't be any x-rated stuff, because I am incredibly uncomfortable writing and posting hot and heavy harlequin material, but Naruto has always been gay in my head. Maybe I know too many gay people.


	4. Chapter 4

"Whee! Go left! Now right! Ooh, can we fly over that tree. Wait, this is taking too long. Fly over that flower patch! Ah, this is so awesome!"

They spent a good half an hour in the air, up until the point where the bumble bee was so exhausted they had to rest on a lilly pad.

"Wow, this is super cool! I've never been this far away from home before!"

Gaara just looks at him in response, but Naruto doesn't seem to think it intimidating or crazy. Shoot, half of his friends just communicated through grunting and barking. He always made up for the lack of communication with lots and lots of talking.

And so he did. Talk.

A lot.

He talked for another half hour, until Gaara's bee was properly rested and Gaara could fly him back home.

"This was so cool!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping off of the bee and dragging Gaara back into his room. Sasuke scoffed at the two and kept staring off into the distance next to his bumblebee.

Gaara nods, enjoying the sight of Naruto bouncing around everywhere, talking a mile a minute.

"I like your voice." Gaara says, and Naruto smiles a little shyly. This is the first time in all of Naruto's existence that he has ever been shy. If Iruka were here, he would drop to the floor in shock.

"Really? Thanks! Most of the time Iruka and Jiraiya can't stand my voice!"

With anyone else, it would sound self-deprecating. With Naruto, it sounded cute. Such was the way of the smiley blond. There were few things he would take as an insult, and few insults people would be offended by.

"I would like for you to live with me." Naruto smiles at him with wide eyes.

"Is it close by here?"

"It is everywhere." He says cryptically.

"Great! So Iruka won't miss me!"

Gaara nods and walks back to the window, turning back to look at Naruto once more.

"I will be back tomorrow." Gaara promises, and Naruto smiles brightly.

"Alright!"

When Gaara finally leaves, Sasuke breathes a sigh of relief.

"Damn, I thought you were going to stay there forever, Gaara-sama."

Gaara nods at Uchiha.

"Naruto is to be my wife." Gaara responds, and Sasuke almost trips climbing onto his bumblebee.

"You're _shitting _on me. That idiot?"

"Do not insult my wife, or you shall bear the fitting punishment."

"...Right. And what made you decide to choose him as your... Bride?" Sasuke cringes with the effort it took to repeat his name.

Gaara had never once cared what Sasuke thought, and wasn't about to start now. So he mounted his bee, took off, and was perfectly honest.

"He makes me feel emotions. That is what a connection is, is it not?"

After all, Temari had never once blushed until she met Shikamaru. And now they were engaged. Gaara had never smiled before Naruto, so they must now also be engaged.

"He makes _me _feel emotions, too. Lots of annoyance I've hardly ever felt before in my life. Do we have a connection, too?" Sasuke asks sarcastically.

Gaara stares at him.

Even riding the bees into the air, Gaara stares at him. He swerves around branches and all other obstacles, maintaining eye contact with Sasuke. Sasuke can't afford to keep staring back, so alternates between _not crashing _and not letting his guard down around his prince.

He sees sand coming from Gaara's wings.

"Except never as strong as your connection with him!" Sasuke finally continues, and Gaara slowly turns his head back to the road, satisfied.

So that's why his brother ran from the kingdom.

The royal family was fucking _insane._

* * *

><p>Naruto was excited. Finally, he was going to explore the world! He loved Iruka. He loved his family. He loved his home. But he wanted to love the rest of the world too, and now Gaara (his new best friend) and the bastard Sasuke were going to let him live out in the open air in the big big world, just as small as him.<p>

They were thumb-sized, just like him.

Just.

Like.

Him.

He went to bed with a smile on his face, snuggling into the soft, luxurious hankerchief Iruka splurged on to serve as his blanket, tucked into the large snapping box that served as Naruto's king-sized bed.

He went to sleep quickly, deeply, and did not notice when his large snapping box snapped shut.

He did not notice as he was carried to the window.

He did not notice when Jiraiya leapt after him with a bark. He was used to barking noises, bouncing, and other such commotion. He was, however, unused to the rocking of water. So, as soon as the box hit the river and started floating downstream, he awoke. And he panicked.

He banged on the walls, screamed his obnoxiously loud voice _almost _raw, and thrashed around in a panic until finally he thrashed himself to a fitful sleep.

And woke up to sunny skies.

"Hello, blondie."

And four toothy grins.


	5. Chapter 5

"Who are you guys!" Naruto shrieks, and one of the grins falters at the deafening tones.

There were a mix of colors and shapes and markings, but all human-looking like him.

"We can always just cut his tongue out, right?" The gray-haired faltering grin asks, and is smacked upside the head. "What! He's annoying!"

"He is necessary." A redhead says calmly, reminding him a little bit of Gaara were it not for the multiple piercings on his face.

"What? Necessary for what?"

"Not talking, hm." The blond one says. Naruto couldn't tell whether it was a boy or a girl.

"You are a peculiar thing." The redhead elaborates, "A wingless fairy. But still, you carry a certain magic in you that we must harness."

"Harness?" That sounded painful.

"Yeah." The gray-haired one snarled, "We're going to cut out your fucking heart and eat it."

"What!"

He laughed uncontrollably, "Just kidding, ya little fucker. So gullible."

"Your kind is a good luck charm, hm. We need to keep you around and get famous."

"Famous?"

"We're a traveling theatre troupe, hm! Pein, Itachi, Hidan, and the wonderful Deidara!"

"Why do you keep saying hm, hm?" Naruto asked.

"Hm?"

"Shut the fuck up Deidara, other blond... You're giving me a fucking headache. Now come on, let's get the rest of the troupe."

"There are more of you!" Naruto groaned, "I want to go home!"

"Nope. You are our lucky charm now, hm!"

"We will be back before nightfall." The black-haired one speaks out for the first time since the whole conversation, and his eery red eyes disturb Naruto, "Do not run away."

And they hop a million feet into the air.

Naruto jumps fully out of his box, not just flailing around anymore, and discovers that he is stranded in the middle of the river on a lilly pad.

"Gah!" He exclaims, waving his fist in the air, "You all suck so bad!"

* * *

><p>Gaara returns in the morning, bodyguard still speeding reluctantly after him, to find that the room in which his wife awaited was trashed and emptied, and two dogs are whimpering and groaning to themselves on the ground.<p>

"Beasts." Gaara calls, "Where is Naruto?"

The larger one growls.

"What did the 'bastard' look like?"

Barking.

"Mm. I see." Gaara turned to Sasuke, "The Akatsuki are all to be executed."

"Gaara, you forget that my _brother_ is an Akatsuki. And yeah, he's a psycho flaming thing, but-"

Gaara gives him his, 'I spent the majority of my life a murderous psychopath and have only been relatively sane the past few years. Do not test me.'

"If they do not deliver Naruto to me safely by Winter's passing, I will kill them all myself."

Sasuke sighs before his sarcasm kicks in, "Well, we best start looking for him so you don't have to sully your wings with all that blood."

Gaara raises his brow muscle, "It is no trouble. Wings are not easily stained, least of all by blood."

Sasuke is not comforted in the slightest. He should just keep his mouth shut around Gaara. It's not any trouble to stay quiet around the other members of the kingdom. But Gaara was like a silent, empty cloud. Even Sasuke couldn't stand that silence.

It drove him mad, brooding in silence with the Gaara's monk-like quiet.

"And a troupe of only nine is pathetically easy to snuff out."

And with that parting remark, the two were off in the sky.

* * *

><p>"Hey! Hey! Hello!" Naruto had been yelling for the past twenty minutes.<p>

It has not helped any.

Bored of yelling, Naruto decided to explore the lily pad that he was stranded on. He had never been taught to swim before-every time he was dumped into the water bin, Jiraiya always eventually lifted him out before he died.

So swimming to shore was out of the question.

Naruto puzzled over his situation, squinting his eyes and focusing on the lily pad. A lily pad with a hook, connected to something! Like a cork! And if he pulled that cork... Then he'd be able to float to shore! And then he'd go home and get some breakfast. Nice, piping hot noodles.

Simple.

So he tugged with all his might, and with a satisfactory little _pop! _he was freed.

Great!

He then realized he had no idea how to steer the pad, and he was heading rapidly towards what was looking to be a waterfall.

He quickly started up his cries for help again, hoping that someone would hear him.

In fact, Naruto was unaware, but he was so loud and grating that anyone who could hear his cries turned the other way promptly.

Except for one, solitary, equally loud bird.

* * *

><p>Iruka was cleaning.<p>

Obsessively.

Every inch, thumb-sized or otherwise, was scoured for every speck of dust, dirt, or grime. Because despite what he knew to be fact, he kept the small, tiny hope that his small, tiny son was just hiding in some small, tiny corner in his home.

His poor, tiny son.

"Hello, Iruka!" Says a cheery voice from the window, and Iruka spins around, mop brandished like a sword towards the intruder.

"Y-you!" Iruka holds a hand to his heart, almost dying from the shock of it, "You're the fairy who gave me Naruto!"

The larger, human sized fairy... Who no longer had wings.

"Oh, that's what you called him?" The fairy asks, "And I'm not a _fairy. _That's just how you wanted to see me. A tiny little midget with wings. This is my actual form. I'm a Juunin."

"What's a Juunin?"

"Something that I'm hoping you'll be able to answer a few questions for?"

The Juunin waves a block of parchment-sized stone in front of Iruke, then hops into the room and immediately zeroes in to the sofa in Iruka's room. It's almost a skill, the way he effortlessly sprawls himself over Iruka's furniture without even asking.

"Questions?" Iruka welcomes the distraction. He's been distracting himself all day while his animals have been sniffing out his son.

"Just your standard questions. I'm having a performance review." The Juunin winks at him. Well, what little Iruka could see of his face. More of it was covered. Last time it was just his mouth with a piece of fabric, now he had a piece of cloth covering his eye, too. He looked more like a pirate than a fairy now, although he still had fairy wings, "Might be up for a raise."

"Um, yeah, of course I will. What are the questions?"

"Simple ones. First off, on a scale of one to ten, how gracious would you say I was?"

"Gracious?"

"Yes, when I first visited your house. How gracious was I?"

"Um, around a seven?"

"A ten being very gracious, and a zero being not gracious at all. In case I wasn't clear."

"Yes. A seven."

"Alright." The Juunin scratches on his block of stone, then his eye flicks back up to Iruka, "Now, how satisfied were you with the timing of your wish?"

"Well, I guess a month isn't _that _long to wait for a child. Women wait nine."

"On a scale of one to ten."

"Oh! An eight."

"Mhmm." The Juunin scratches his block again, "You know, you don't have to be stingy with the points. It's not like you're going to run out."

"I know."

"How happy are you with your product?"

"Are you calling my _son _a product?"

"I'd say that's a ten, then, right?"

Iruka frowns at him.

"Ten. Right. Last one. On a scale of one to ten, again, how likely are you to recommend our services to another customer?"

"What?"

"What do you mean, what?"

"What do you mean, recommend? I just wished for a son, and then you granted me one."

"Exactly. What is the likelihood that you would recommend others also engage in wishful thinking? Do you think it's worked out for you enough, based on my fulfilling of your wish?"

Iruka looks sadly at the empty bed his Naruto used to sleep in before he was taken.

"Ten." He says finally. He loved his son too much to wish he had never made that wish. That love was worth more than any pain he was feeling now. His son would come back to him. He knew it.

"Great. Thank you." The Juunin set down the rock tablet, "Now you can tell me what's troubling you."

"Hmm? Nothing."

The Juunin points to himself, "I am _magic_. I know something's wrong."

Iruka looks at how serious the Juunin is before breaking down, "My Naruto has been kidnapped!"

"Mm." The Juunin says to himself, stroking his chin.

Then he gets up and looks out the window.

He stares for a good five minutes before smiling and walking back to where Iruka was close to breaking down, getting almost uncomfortably close to him.

"He will return to you in time." He says, sounding wiser than seconds before, and Iruka believes him.

"You'll get him back for me?"

"Of course not." The Juunin laughs, and all of his wisdom is now gone, "But I can keep you company until somebody else does. I'm magic, not omniscient."


	6. Chapter 6

"Where are these youthful cries coming from?"

This shout is his salvation and Naruto yells and shouts until a bird swan dives into his lily pad and almost drowns them both. However, the bird comes up with surprising willpower and Naruto is amazed at how powerfully the bird's wings beat against the current.

Naruto held desperately onto the back of the bird, trying not to fall off. It was very hard.

However, once they were safely floating, the bird stopped beating his wings and they were quickly approaching the edge again.

"No! Why'd you stop! We're going to die!" Naruto shouted, pounding on the bird's back.

"Why do you say that, young creature?" The bird yells in question.

"Because we're heading towards a waterfall, idiot! We're going to fall!"

"Young creature! I will beat my wings so many times, they will dry on their own and we will fly back into the air once more!"

"Great! Just beat your wings this way!" Naruto steers the bird until he's facing against the current, and the two cut through the river as if they were powered by some divine force.

Once they are on dry land, the bird beating his wings for almost a full ten minutes, Naruto shakes his hair dry and takes a good look at the brightly colored bird—_sparrow, _the smart little Iruka-sounding voice in his mind supplies. The bird beats his wings to clear the water off of them, and when Naruto snorts at the tuft of feathers on the top of his head that seemed to defy gravity, the sparrow face zeroes in on Naruto and he notices the bird's eyes are glassy and white.

"Hey, what's wrong with your eyes?"

The bird's smile drops only for a second before coming back twice as brightly as before.

"I am blind!"

"Oh." Naruto said. That explained why the bird was so quick to jump into the water.

"Nevermind the trivial things! I am Rock Lee!"

"That's a weird name for a bird."

"Nevertheless, it is mine to bear! What is your name, young creature!"

"Naruto!"

"What is it that ails you, fair Naruto?"

"What! I'm a guy!"

"Fair guy!"

Naruto ignores him.

"I need to find the prince! Or my home! Preferably home!"

"The fairy prince!" The bird cries.

"Yes! The fairy prince! You know where he is? He knows where I live!"

"You are a friend of the fairy prince!"

"Yeah! He says I can live with him!"

"You are to marry the fairy prince!"

"What? No! I'm going to _live _with him! You're not deaf too, are you!"

"But why else would two youthful fairies live together, if not to wed?"

"Cause I'm freaking awesome, that's why!"

Naruto looks around and notices that they have an audience of three.

"Who the heck are you guys!"

"You're going to marry the fairy prince?" The girl asks, looking up at him with dreamy eyes.

"Ew! Gross!" The tallest one says, and the third one just sniffles.

"I'm-not-going-to-marry-the-fairy-prince!" He shouts.

* * *

><p>Gaara stared at his brother and sister threateningly.<p>

"Delay the frost."

"What!" Kankurou exclaimed, "What are you talking about? And where's that bride you were talkin' about? That Nagasaki thing or whatever."

Gaara's stare turns into a glare, and Sasuke cuts in.

"The idi-" Sasuke feels a chill sweep over him, "_Naruto _has been kidnapped. By the Akatsuki. However, the Akatsuki cannot be located at the moment, so until we complete the search Prince Gaara is requesting that you delay the frost."

Sasuke has never had to speak so much until he started working for Gaara. He hated it.

"We can only delay the frost for so long." Temari argues.

"I was not _requesting _you delay it." Gaara corrects, sending them all sharp glances before mounting his bumblebee and riding off into the wind.

"Cocky little shit." Kankurou mutters, and Temari swats his head.

* * *

><p>"So you guys are going to protect me while the blind bird tries to find the fairy prince."<p>

"Yes!" The obnoxious one, Konohamaru, declared.

"Right." Naruto sighed, before shrugging and humming a tune.

"Look out!" Moegi screamed, before all three screamed at the incomer and scattered.

"You guys are useless!" Naruto yells at the bugs that 'protected' him so well.

"Hello! I am Sai. How do you do, toots?"

The beetle's face was blank and the smile it gave Naruto creeped him out.

"Toots?"

"That is what I call flesh-things I am trying to flatter, right?"

"No! You call me Naruto! My name is Naruto!"

"Right, toots."

"Gah! Where did you even come from!"

"That tree up there. I saw you, _heard _you, and was shocked at how perfect a specimen you were." The smile still creeped Naruto out.

"Um, right. I'm going home."

"Why are you hurrying? Stay for a while." Sai smiled at him and grabbed his hand, placing a kiss on it.

"Agh! Creep!" Naruto grabbed his hand back, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"Would you prefer this instead?" He asked, grabbing Naruto by the waist and dipping him, as if they were dancing.

"What the hell! Stop it!"

"How can I stop when I am so taken with you?"

"What? Dude! I've only just met you!"

"What does time have to do with love?"

"Love!"

"Yes, love. I love you. And your voice."

"My voice?"

"Don't talk. It's disgusting. Sing instead."

"Wha-"

"Sing." Sai's smile dropped and Naruto was a little creeped out.

"Um, _okay?_" Naruto sang questioningly. He looked past Sai's head up into the sky and spotted the tree he had said he came down from, "_Hey, I just had a thought. Wanna fly me up there?_"

"Why?" Sai tilted his head.

"So I can find my house!"

"What is in it for me?"

"_I'll sing?_"

"At the Beetle Ball. You will be our main performer."

"What?"

Sai swooped Naruto into his arms and flew into the sky.

Konohamaru looked at his friends from their hiding spot.

"Uh... I think we need help." Udon mutters, and they all nod in agreement.


	7. Chapter 7

"So I'm singing?"

"Yes."

"In this costume?"

"You are correct."

Naruto is wearing a dress. With fake wings.

Sai is smiling at him.

"Why?"

"Well, you do kind of look like a girl."

"What! I'm a guy!"

"Well, when you shout like _that _you sound like one. But you're not here to shout. You're here to smile and sing. Now be quiet, it's all starting."

Sai smiles at Naruto and the lights go off, shutting off his braint and almost blinding Naruto. But the crowd starts cheering and he smiles also, following the routine the beetles drilled into his head in a few hours, only distantly wondering how this was even happening.

But the crowd was... cheering?

"Alright toots, now it's time to wing it." Sai warns with a smile.

"What wings!" Naruto panics, and the beetles spin him until his complicated costume unravels and he is left standing there in his bright orange boxer shorts.

Before all the humiliation and shouts of disgust have any affect on him, his only thought is, 'damn it's cold up here.'

"Sorry dickless." Whatever happened to toots? Sai shrugs with his same blankface smile, "I guess you're too ugly for life on the road."

Naruto blinks in shock.

"_I'm _ugly?"

* * *

><p>"Where is help! Where is help!" Konohamaru shouts, running in a beeline for his house.<p>

"Wait up!" Moegi cries, running after her.

"Come on! Naruto needs help!"

One of the Akatsuki appears in front of the bugs, it's glowing red eyes glaring at them.

All three bugs scream.

"Naruto?" The Akatsuki asks, tilting it's head and allowing it's long, black hair to tumble down it's shoulders.

"Uh, yeah. The beetle took her and flew all the way up into that tree." Udon explains before Konohamaru elbows him in the side.

"The beetle? Ugly lookalike, right?"

"Uh, what?"

The Akatsuki leans forward and reveals his pale face.

"Did his face look like mine?"

"Uh, kinda." Moegi blushes, turning away for a few seconds before blinking back at him, "Only without those lines on his eyes."

"I don't think he had eyes." Udon shares, "They were closed the whole time."

"Nah, nah, you guys got it all wrong." Konohamaru argues, "His eyes were gray! He opened them when he was flying all the way up!"

The red-eyed Akatsuki was already gone.

* * *

><p>Naruto is stranded on a treebranch, wallowing in his misery.<p>

"Naruto!" A familiar voice cries, making a pin dive and crashing into the branch Naruto was laying on. Luckily, Naruto was able to move a few inches back so that he didn't die from bird attack. "What ages your youth in such a way?"

"What? How did you find me!"

"I smelled the burning flame of your youth!"

Naruto casts a discreet glance towards his butt and frowns at it.

"What ails you!"

"Uh, I just got dumped, I think." Naruto thinks back to the trashy novels Iruka liked to pretend he didn't own. "Because the beetle says I'm ugly."

"The beetle!" Lee laughs at a slightly obnoxious volume, "Do you love the beetle now?"

"Now? What? No! Never!"

"Then pftooey on the beetle! Does the prince think you're ugly?"

"Uhh..." Naruto was lost for thoughts, "No?"

"Then the prince is all who should matter to you." Lee says sagely.

"Um, okay. Can I go home now?"

"Hm?" Lee asks, looking at Naruto with his white eyes. It was a little creepy.

"Did you find the veil of the fairies yet?"

"Not yet, not yet. But now, we must sleep."

At the word sleep, Naruto found himself yawning and curling up in Lee's big, green wing.  
>"Alright then."<p>

"Tomorrow is a new day. And I will go into the forest and see if I cannot find your Prince Gaara."

"Mm..." Naruto mutters, and the two fall asleep.

* * *

><p>It is morning now, and Lee's nose is on a mission.<p>

The two parted ways once they woke, Lee attempting to find the fairy prince and Naruto attempting to find his home.

He smells a rabbit moving quickly, and does a graceful dive onto it's back, quickly holding on for all he's worth.

"Hello dear rabbit friend! How is this fine day for you?"

"It's day, but it's more shitty than fine!" The white rabbit said, running as fast as it could from the fox chasing it. It shouldn't have called it fat. Well, he would have anyway, because the fox was a crazy bitch, but... well...

"I am seeking the Vale of the Fairies!" Lee cries, his cry a little jostled from the running.

"Fairies, huh? Beats the heck outta me. Ask a fairy!"

"You know one?"

"No, but the redheaded bitch chasing me might." The rabbit shakes off the bird, who goes flying straight into the 'redheaded bitch', landing on her nose.

"Hello kind creature!" He sniffs, "A fox! Excuse me, but I am looking for the vale of the-"

"Get the hell offa me!" The redhead cries, glaring daggers by crossing her eyes.

"I can see that you are busy at this moment, so I shall be as brief as-"

"Get. Offa. Me!"

The redhead quickly shakes the bird off, and Lee goes flying into a thornbush.

"Oh." Lee blinks his blank eyes and stares at where his wing would be if I could see it. "A thorn in my wing. No matter! I will fly twice as fast!"

Lee leaps into the air and flies, wobbling slightly, before sniffing, "I smell autumn! I will find the fairy prince before winter is upon us!"

* * *

><p>author's note: so I am really horrible when i am provoked, but someone left an anonymous review on this story that kind of irked me a bit. Feel free to just ignore the rest.<p>

To the anonymous reviewer,

First of all, thank you for being anonymous so I had no other way to respond to you. I am now an asshole. And thank you for making it impossible to stalk your profile and see if you're some literary genius that can afford to insult my unworthy writing.

Second, did you review just from reading the summary? your only complaints are that it is gay and has thumbelina. so you are homophobic or hate fairytales. or both. and then needed to tell me about it.

And what is Punic? a "lameass Punic fic"? Is my writing similar to the Punic wars? Am I lesser known history? I do not understand.

And don't swear so much in the beginning and then end it with a "friggin' idiot". If anything, you should work your way up to the heavy swearing. It sounds a little weak the other way around.

_Sorry for taking up so much space. This is actually the condensed version._

On a lighter note, I found the script of the Thumbelina movie online, so remembering the plot is no problem anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

Gaara finds a little cave with movement and a fire, and decides to investigate. After all, there were not many places Naruto could run to from his home. If he was traveling on foot, his options were rather limited.

What he sees is not his Naruto, but instead a bunch of worthless bugs.

Sasuke trails after him at a slightly slower pace, trying to not look like he was exhausted from flying around the trees for over a day nonstop.

Gaara decides to talk to the people of his lands with all of the social niceties drilled into his royal mind since birth.

"I am looking for a blond wingless fairy."

The bugs blink at him before they burst into chatter that both prince and guard wince at.

"You mean Naruto?"

"Oh my god he was so cute!"

"A beatle took him and then ran into the sky!"

"It's _fly_, dumb butt. He _flew _into the sky."

"With Naruto!"

"And then this creepy guy asked us about him."

"He looked like that guy!"

"I think he was a fairy too."

"Really? I didn't see any wings!"

"Because of that thing he was wearing! That same material they're wearing!"

"Fabric? He was wearing a _cloak_?"

"Pretty, with pale skin and dark hair-"

"Only these _creepy ass _red eyes!"

Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Like this?" He asks, and his eyes swirl red as his wings rustle, causing the children to scream and run into a tall blue bug with beady black eyes.

"Leave now!" The bug ordered, and Sasuke rolled his eyes again, while Gaara just stared.

Once the two of them had left after thoroughly creeping out the children, they were forced to discuss their plan.

The discussion was very short.

"So what is your next move?" Sasuke asks, getting on his bee at a slightly slower pace than usual.

"Find Naruto, and kill whoever has her."

"Him."

Gaara stares at Sasuke in question.

"You called Naruto a girl. It's a guy. A wingless guy."

"Yes. I know."

"I'm just saying. Naruto is a guy, and not a her."

More silence.

"Alright then. Let's find your male bride before winter sets in." Sasuke says, and the two kick off into the sky.

* * *

><p>Sai is usually very skilled at not being captured by anyone. It is something he's rather boastful of, actually, if he were to be boastful of anything. He's been mistaken more than once as a 'slippery eel' for, though many have tried to kill him, obviously none have succeeded thus far.<p>

So when he is caught, by the throat, by a very dangerous looking fellow, he has to find another way to not die.

He gives a little cough.

"May I clarify one point?"

His captor tilts his head expectantly.

"I do not know the blond thing's location. After a brief tryst we separated. On amicable terms, of course. I don't enjoy ugly people in my company."

"I disagree with your opinion."

"That's very nice. But, I hear the blond and the fairy prince have a thing going too."

"I've heard."

"So I propose a trap. We capture the prince and use him as bait. Lure the blond thing to you? Problem solved."

"Great. Sound plan."

He takes Sai's wings.

Sai's eyes narrow.

"Collateral." He smiles, "Now go catch me a fairy prince."

"Yes, because of course the obvious solution is to take the very tool that would enable me to be on level with a flying fairy prince. Very logical. I'll just go get him for you now."

* * *

><p>Lee is walking in a straight line. Having decided to walk rather than fly for the next mile or so, he figured that the most logical thing to do to avoid getting lost would be to walk in a straight line.<p>

And so he was.

Into a cave.

Where he smelled a bear. Bears were wonderful creatures, always so knowledgable, so of course a bear would be helpful in Lee's quest to find the veil of the fairies.

"Excuse me! Mister Bear! I am looking for the veil of the fairies!"

"I'm not hungry for any berries." The bear replied, his powerful voice blowing Lee back a bit.

"No, no, you mishear me! _Fairies _not _berries_!"

"Too troublesome to tell the difference." The bear sighs, "Just let them find you!"

Lee sighs and decides to turn back and walk in the opposite direction for awhile, "Thank you for you help, Mr. Bear! It is greatly appreciated!"

The bear snores in response and bats at the offending noise, causing Lee to fly into the air and get caught in the winds.

"I will fly my way out of this storm!" He declares.

* * *

><p>Naruto is cold.<p>

His nose is running.

He's never been so cold before in his life.

He decides to wander, move around, build up some energy, and through his attempt not to die he spots a brown looking thing with a _sock!_

A wonderfully warm-looking sock.

He buries himself in that sock and curls up until there is nothing but a puff of blond hair visible to the world.

"Screw everybody else." He mutters to himself, "At least I'm warm now."

* * *

><p>"Gaara! The frost is coming in!" Sasuke shouts from behind his prince, and he might as well be talking to the winds he's fighting against for all the response he gets.<p>

"We can find Naruto after we've found shelter!" Is another plea of his, that the prince all-too-happily ignores.

"Completely _deaf_." He mutters, and Gaara turns back and glares at him for a second.

Gaara goes through a leaf and his bumblebee fails him, sinking down onto the snow and expelling him into the slowly freezing river.

He is angry.

He is even angrier when the fairy assigned to follow him around dives in afterward, obstructing his path out of the water slowly solidifying around them.

They freeze in that position, stuck in Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam.

Gaara and Sasuke both feel useless now.

And they both are very, very angry.


	9. Chapter 9

"That crazy big ugly... Thing. Whatever that thing is." Sai muttered to his minions, lackeys, whatever the things following him were. "He's absolutely preposterous. Making ridiculous demands-"

"Boss! Boss! We found 'im! Down here!"

One of his lackeys started jumping up and down, pointing beneath his feet at the ice.

"Oh. Okay then." He gave a small little smile, closing his eyes like the humans do, "Get him out then."

* * *

><p>When Naruto woke up, he wasn't cold anymore. In fact, he was quite toasty. He stretched, scratched, lamented the lack of his cap, then the lack of his home, wondered where his sock bed went, then decided to survey his surroundings by opening his eyes.<p>

He was in a room? A warmly lit room.

In a bed. A nice comfy bed with lots of blankets that he was on top of rather than buried under. He remedied that immediately by burying himself underneath all those wonderfully warm blankets.

The room that he was in was interesting, covered in various knicknacks that were both manmade and naturemade. Was that a word? Naturemade?

"You're awake!"

"Yes!" He agreed, looking around and finding the source of the noise. "Where am I?"

* * *

><p>"Gaara is dead." Temari says weepingly, punching her brother hard in the arm, "Gaara is dead and it's all that stupid tart's fault!"<p>

"Nagasaki?" Kankuro asked, staring broodingly at the winter landscape before them. He felt like Sasuke, brooding like this.

"Yes, Hatsuho!" Temari smacked Kankuro on the back of the head with her fan.

"What was that for!"

"I'm angry!"

"We don't even know if he's dead! All we know is that winter's started!"

"And he's not here!"

"Would he mind the winter, though? He's indestructible."

"No, he's not!"

"Do you know how many people have tried to kill him? I don't think the winter is going to do any good. Face it. Gaara's never dying."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: I apologize for how short this is. We have about two or three chapters left before the story is over, but I am lost for who should be the rat and the mole. So I made a poll on my profile page to help.<p>

Please help.


	10. Chapter 10

"Where am I?" Naruto asks, rubbing his head as he surveys his surroundings. It's... cozy.

"You are in my house. Underground. If you had not woken up, I would have prepared you for my next meal."

Naruto laughs, assuming his host is joking, but the laughter slowly dies once he realizes his host has yet to crack a smile.

Naruto had never seen a white mouse before, and this one seemed to tower over Naruto with vivid red eyes that he would've called intimidating if he were any other creature. However, to Naruto, intimidating was just another word for creepy or cool. And this mouse's eyes were creepy.

"Um... So I'm underground?"

"Three feet underground. Drink this."

The host hands him a cup of some steaming liquid, and Naruto detected the faint smells of... fish? soy sauce?

"Is this ramen!"

"No." Naruto pouted, "It's just broth."

"Oh. Okay."

They sit in silence for awhile.

"Were you attempting to take your life in the snow?" The host asks.

"What? No! I was just trying to find my way home!"

"An impossible feat in this weather. You may be permitted to leave once spring is upon us, Naruto."

"What? You know my name!"

The mouse raises a furry brow.

"You are a loud, tiny hairless thing with no wings. A fool wouldn't be able to recognize the bride of the fairy prince."

Naruto ignores the whole 'bride' bit, he resigned himself to the strangeness of everyone he met already.

"What? You know Gaara?"

"He is the prince. One would be a fool to not know of him or his death."

"Death!"

The mouse scoffs, "Prince Gaara was found frozen to death with his underling. Itachi's something."

"What? It's not true! It can't be! You're lying!"

"Don't be foolish. Now stop crying and put this cloak on. We are going down the tunnel to bring these gifts to Orochimaru."

"What? No thanks. I don't feel like it."

"I did not offer you a choice. Unless you would have rather I left you in that boot to die?"

Naruto gives the mouse a pitiful, pouting look that the mouse brushes off, throwing a coat at Naruto while donning one himself.

"I have heard you have a memorable voice, Naruto. You will sing for Orochimaru. He enjoys these things."

"... What's your name?"

"Kimimaro. Now don't be lazy. Come."

"You know something." Iruka decides, serving Kakashi a bowl of soup.

"I know lots of things."

"About Naruto."

"I was the one who gave you Naruto. Of course I know things of Naruto." Kakashi gives a lighthearted chuckle. He had yet to remove his mask, and had only stirred the spoon around the bowl lazily, yet already the bowl was half empty. Peculiar.

"You looked out the window and _knew _he would come back. How did you know? Can you see him now?"

"If I say yes, would you have me run out and snatch him? What if he's in the middle of something? And if I say no, that I only said those things to make you feel better, what then? You would just go back to moping. I don't like moping, and I don't like disturbing. Therefore I cannot answer your question."

"But if you can bring him back to me-"

"Then I would be disturbing what needs to be done."

"But he's my son!"

"And every child needs to grow up."

"Not Naruto!"

"What makes him different than any other child?"

"He was born out of a flower!"

"So are all children."

"No, they were not. Most children grow inside of a _woman, _who then gives birth to the child. It is nothing like a blooming flower."

Jiraiya gives a bark.

Kakashi starts giggling.

"Ka.. Kakashi? What are you-This is something dirty isn't it. Nevermind. I don't want to know."

The bowl is empty.

"Orochimaru." Kimimaro greets, bowing deeply to the mole emerging from the shadows.

"Kimimaro." The mole grins, and Naruto wonders whether the mole resembles a snake more than he does... a mole... Naruto shakes his head.

"This is Naruto. I found him in a boot."

"Up in the sun?" Orochimaru wrinkles his nose. Kimimaro nods, "Horrible place. Good thing you were able to rescue the..." Orochimaro tilts his head, "How are you, Naruto? Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Yeah." Naruto nods, briefly shaking Orochimaro's outstretched hand while trying not to shudder.

"Come in, please, do come in. Just _don't _touch anything."

The two entered his dwelling to see mountains upon mountains of golden, shiny, twinkling trinkets. Well, twinkling dully. There wasn't much light for the trinkets to glitter against.

"I brought rice cakes." Kimimaro offered, and was the mouse _smiling? _Naruto didn't know that he could smile.

"Yes, yes, thank you. Delightful. So, Naruto, tell us, how has the outside changed since I last visited? Dreadful, light. Nearly blinded me."

"Um, it's bright. I love the light." Naruto smiled cheerfully, and Orochimaru could almost see the light shining out of the thing.

"I hate it. End of story." Orochimaru looked around his dwelling, "Tell us a story then."

"Oh, uh... Once upon a time there was.. uh... the sun!"

"Sing it." Kimimaro commands, and Naruto feels a bit like a puppet.

"Uh, _once there was the sun. Bright and warm and wonderful_." Naruto smiles, picturing bright and reds and yellows and all the colors that warmed him up from the inside.

He continued singing as he slowly remembered where he was, in the cold, where everything was dark and horrible and Gaara was dead and he was all alone and he couldn't find home and the sun was gone.

The two are smiling at him.

"Wonderful story. Dreadful thing, the sun. Glad it's gone. Now for my story." Orochimaru's smile disturbed Naruto, "Just this morning I stumbled across the most extraordinary sight my tunnel ever did behold. A_dead. Bird._"

He gestures for the two to follow as he gets up and they head down one of the many paths in his tunnel.

"Really?" Kimimaro asks, engrossed.

"Yes. There are endless possibilities for why a bird could have wound up here. Fascinating. I am planning on conducting an experiment on the rate of decay. What luck, those twittering useless things, now dead and here of all... Ah, there it is."

Naruto was having a horrible day.

"What do you believe happened to him?" Kimimaro asks as Naruto practically leaps towards the dead, diseased thing.

"Who knows. I only know that there's one less bird to bother the rest of us."

"Lee!" All of his friends can't be dead, right?

"Now he's naming dead things. Touched, the thing is." Kimimaro sneers.

"Yes, lovely, lovely. Lets have a word over here." The two wander off while Naruto is hugging the dead bird.

"Kimimaro, you know I have been meaning for awhile to have a companion of some sorts."

Kimimaro nods.

"It is lonely, you know, down here in these tunnels be oneself."

"You have me, of course."

"Of course. But I would also like Naruto to be my wife."

"Naruto?"

"Yes. The thing is very bright, after all, and not in the blinding way the sun is. Although the thing doesn't seem to be very bright in the mind. Touched, maybe, but I'm sure I could fix that."

"Yes."

"I will reward you handsomely in aiding this match, of course."

"Yes. Let's get him now then."

Meanwhile, Naruto was beaming to himself. He could hear a heartbeat. Lee wasn't dead. He would come back for him. Tonight.

* * *

><p>"Here! Prince! Dead prince!"<p>

Sai displays the slab of ice proudly. It was hard, for his minions, to carve out the fairies, push the fairies all the way to where they thought the Akatsuki was going to be, and the _waiting. _God, what was it, twenty minutes? Sai was close to dying.

The Akatsuki should give Sai his wings back now. That was common courtesy, after all of the effort Sai put into this.

"This is not a dead prince."

"Wha? No. Bumblebee. Wings. Broody-looking. He the prince."

"He is the prince's guard." The man's eyes glow red and the beetle backs up, wary.

"Don't worry." Sai gestures to his minions, and they scurry around the ice cube to turn it around to display the other fairy, just as brooding, only with a grainy texture that made him look a little unreal. "Two of them. Double the value."

The man gives him an empty, unimpressed look.

"He looks dead."

"Good! Less competition for you. I hear the thing is rooming with the mole now. So my wings? Yeah?"

"Orochimaru?"

"Yes, yes. Best to go and save her. And give me my wings back."

"Right. Let's go then." The man seized Sai by the arm, and started dragging him in the direction of the tunnels. Sai goes limp, but the man continues dragging him nonetheless.

"No thank you. I'm fine with just my wings. Do you know what the mole does to beetles? Cuts them up and empties them out and stuffs them up and pins them on walls! Why don't you want to marry someone of your kind? Whatever kind you are. Not the thing, surely, you should find a fairy or something. You're a fairy under that cloak, right? You should find a nice fairy, and marry her."

His cries fall upon deaf ears as the man says nothing and continues walking.

Three little bugs pop out from behind a flower and look at each other.

"What are we gonna do?"

"We need the fairy prince. He'll save Naruto."

"Let's build a fire."

* * *

><p>"Marry the mole? Why? You marry him!"<p>

Kimimaro almost looks ready to throttle him.

"He wants _you. _He is powerful, and smart, and wealthy, and he _wants you. _So he shall have you. Who are you waiting for? The prince? Don't be foolish."

_TBC_


	11. Chapter 11

Naruto waited until everyone was asleep before he snuck out of Kimimaro's hole and into the tunnels. He only got lost nine times before he tripped and his fallen lantern lit up Lee's fallen figure..

"If you die, you're stupid." Naruto decides, covering Lee with a blanket he was using as a cloak, "I know you're tiny, and missing something the others have, and because of that everyone thinks you're not worth it. But that's crap. Iruka says I'm not a freak, I'm just quirky. And hell, maybe I _should_ marry the Mole. I mean, he's creepy, and he was going to watch you rot for fun, but at least he'll take care of me, right?"

"Lies." Lee coughs out, and Naruto is startled out of his rant.

"You want a pie? Right now? I only brought water!"

"Marry the prince."

"You're awake!" Naruto hugs Lee, and Lee, instead of embracing him, cries out in pain.

"There is a thorn stuck in my wing." Lee cries, his injured wing twitching.

"What? Why didn't you say so?" Naruto leans over, grabs the thorn with both hands, and tugs.

It comes out with a pop, and Lee immediately brightens.

"It will now heal!" Lee exclaims, leaping to his feet.

"What? You have to rest to heal! Everybody says so!"

"No rest! I must find the Vale of the Fairies!"

"But Gaara is gone!"

"Nonsense! Get on my back! We will fly!"

"Lee-"

"Nothing is impossible!"

"That's nice, but what's the-"

"I will be back, tiny one!"

"Lee!"

"Farewell!"

Lee flies off before Naruto could finish his sentence.

Naruto couldn't even tell where Lee flew off, but trusted that Lee never saw where he was going and seemed to be doing okay for himself.

Naruto deflates, and his bright hair seems to wilt.

"But Gaara is dead."

* * *

><p>"How much you think he knows?"<p>

"Prolly not much. Who knows how long he was frozen?"

"What happens when your brain freezes?"

"It defrosts, _duh_."

"My great uncle got caught in winter once. When he came out, he didn't remember anyone's name."

"Is he not gonna remember our name?"  
>"He never knew our name."<p>

"The prince knows everyone's name!"

"No, that's the princess."

"Oh right. Will he remember Naruto's name?"

"We'll find out when he wakes up."

"Do we have to? You know how scary he is."

"Too late. The ice is melting."

"Oh crap. He's moving."

* * *

><p>Naruto was getting married.<p>

"Why is this happening?" Naruto asks, swatting his hand at the white veil they stuck over his head. Eventually he ripped it off and stomped on it, though he was restrained before he could tear the frilly white monster he was dressed in off. Some bug had fun wrapping his hair up in ribbons, then tying each arm with ribbons, then putting ribbons everywhere. He was glad that there was no mirror around. He was sure he looked ridiculous.

"Do not ask me. I do not know why no one recognizes you as male. I do not know why everyone, upon being ignorant of your gender and species, must have you as theirs. It must be your thrall."

At least Kimimaro was honest.

"My what?"

Kimimaro lets out a tortured sigh.

"And you are just as ignorant as they."

Kimimaro leads Naruto to his fate, and it is a blur of wishing he was anywhere but here and wondering where he would be if Gaara hadn't died and had found him instead and what life would be like with people who were tiny just like him and not hairy or green like everyone else until he is in front of Orochimaru. And he has such a long tongue for a mole, not like he's ever seen a mole before, but now he's saying "I do" and Naruto is wondering _why is he here_? He has never had any problem refusing to be someplace before. Why is it now that he doesn't have a way out?

"And Naruto, do you take this mole to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

Naruto is frozen.

They're asking, him, aren't they. The Mole isn't taking him against his will, because whatever marriage is, it's two-sided. He has to want the Mole.

"I don't."

"What?"

"No! I don't!"

Naruto runs for the exit, and it is only then that the situation really starts to unravel. The tall red-eyed man, the one who looked a bit like Gaara's bodyguard, jumps out in front of him. The beetle is trailing behind the red-eyed man, his eyes trained on the wings crumpled in the man's fists, but everyone else is running after Naruto from the other direction so he _doesn't have time for this, _and manages to sidestep the two of them and run for it.

Just when Naruto is out of sight, Gaara and Sasuke burst onto the scene, intercepting the red-eyed man from going any further after Naruto.

"Itachi!" Sasuke yells, his wings giving off bright blue sparks and his eyes swirling red. Everyone gives a gasp, because until then no one was aware of the mysterious red-eyed man's identity.

"I thought you were dead." Itachi acknowledges, "Move now. Naruto is necessary."

"And what are brothers?"

"Obligatory."

Gaara slowly steps in front of Sasuke and frowns at Itachi.

"You took away Naruto."

"We needed the luck."

"You wouldn't if you would stop trying to take over the fairy kingdom!" Sasuke protests.

Itachi gives him a condescending stare.

Gaara is tired of talking and decides it would be far more productive to start fighting instead.

* * *

><p>Naruto runs until he sees a large hill of treasure giving way to a little patch of sunlight.<p>

"The sun is back!" Naruto exclaims, immediately making a beeline for the mountain of trinkets. He climbs like a madman, using the people underneath him as stepping stools while pushing them away at the same time.

"Crap! The hole's too small!"

The mob was almost catching up with Naruto, so he decided to tug randomly at the small hole until it gave way to an opening that he could barely crawl through. His hips got stuck for a few minutes, but his wild kicking prevented anyone from grabbing onto him until he could wiggle through.

"Outside world! Success! Freedom!" Naruto cheered, throwing his fist in the air.

Lee chooses that moment to nosedive inches away from where Naruto popped out, causing him to cry out in shock and scramble away.

"Naruto!"

"Lee!"

"Naruto!"

"Lee!"

"Naruto! I have found it!"

"What?"

"The Vale of the Fairies! I have found it!"

"Lee!"

"It is true! I have spoken to the rabbit, who spoke to the fox, who spoke to the bear, who knew for sure. Let me show you. Jump on!"

Naruto complies.

"Hang on!"

They fly into the air, Naruto hanging on for all he's worth, and Lee seems to know where he's going so Naruto doesn't question it.

"Off to find the fairy prince!"

Atleast he doesn't question it until he's already in the air.

"That's impossible!"

"Incorrect!"

Naruto ignores Lee and instead talks to himself, "I can't believe I almost married the creeper!"

"Ah, the smell of lilies! We are close!"

"How could I have almost married that creep?"

"Ah ha!"

The landing is rough, but they manage it.

"We are here! We are here! Hello fairies!"

"We're in a patch of weeds, Lee!"

"Disguising the Vale of the Fairies! Sing, Naruto, Sing!"

"Why does everyone want me to sing! Can you just take me home!"

"Just sing!"

Naruto groans loudly so Lee will know just how much he won't enjoy this, then sings a few notes.

"Lee! This is just a weed patch! Fly me home!"

"This is the Vale of the Fairies." Lee insists.

"If it were the Vale of the Fairies, we would see fairies! But I see snow, and weeds, and nothing else!"

"Naruto!" Gaara exclaims, and this moment might have been the loudest Gaara had ever been in his life. Sand beats out of his wings as he lands in front of the blond, and if Sasuke didn't know any better he'd say that Gaara looked slightly emotional.

"Gaara! You're alive!"

"And you are safe."

Sasuke, trailing behind, had to resist voicing his opinions on Naruto's state of dress. His horrible state of dress. He looked like a clown from a nightmare. A drag clown from a nightmare wedding.

"And you're alive!"

Gaara nods, approaches Naruto, stares at him, then nods again.

"Marry me."

"What? You too?"

Gaara frowns, "_Only_ me."

Naruto scrunches his nose, "But why _me?_ Aren't princes supposed to marry princesses?"

Gaara's eyebrow twitches, "I... do not care for princesses."

If Sasuke were a girl, the implied, 'But I care for _you,' _would have brought him to tears.

"I will marry _you_." Gaara insists, "I cannot stand anyone else."

Was that all marrying was? Not finding a sparkling princess and having her accept you, but being with your special person? If you married the person who was your favorite special person, then Naruto would marry Iruka. But Iruka was his mother and father, so he didn't need to marry him to be with him always. But marriage was different from parenthood. Because they didn't raise you, so you're with them in a different way. How was it different, then?

Naruto was very confused.

Maybe it was like how both of them had to take each other as husband and wife. You chose them, so no one could tell the other when it was time for bed, or to brush your teeth, or to eat something other than ramen.

Naruto was born with his favorite special person already there, so he should marry his second special person.

"Okay!"

Gaara nodded, the tips of his ears turning the faintest of pink at Naruto's acceptance. Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes.

Gaara reached out his hand. Naruto looked at Gaara's hand confused, until a small gust of sand-filled wind lifted the blond's hand until Gaara could grasp it. A grin broke out on Naruto's face, and the awkward handshake turned into a hug disguised as a tackle.

If it were anyone else, Sasuke was sure Gaara would have killed them. He obviously wasn't expecting it, if the small 'oof' he let out was any indication. Sasuke snorted to himself. If it was anyone else, Gaara would've thought it was an attack on his life.

Yellow shimmering wings sprouted out of Naruto's back and lifted him up as they started beating wildly in his happiness. Flower bloomed around them and the snow melted away and singing could be heard in the distance.

"I have wings!"

"You have _wings_!" Sasuke shouted incredulously. Then he quickly shut up, because shock wasn't something an Uchiha did.

Lee teared up. Though he could see nothing, he could hear the power of youth and it was beautiful.

The corner of Gaara's mouth twitched upwards for a brief moment.

Naruto beamed at him.

* * *

><p>Up next: The wedding!<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

"Marriage!" Iruka exclaimed.

Naruto glared up at Iruka from his table, looking back and forth between his father and the reading stranger. He crossed his arms and looked as angry as he could.

Naruto doesn't know why he missed Iruka so much. He yells way too much, although it was kind of funny how red his face could get.

"Naruto, do you even know how young you are!"

"Too young to get wrinkles like you!" Naruto sticks out his tongue, and Iruka's face gets even more red.

"The only reason I might have wrinkles are from worrying about you!"

"Why? I don't worry about myself!"

"Maybe you should, if you run away and then come back _engaged! _You've been gone less than a week, and now you have a male fiance and _wings _and there's a fairy _kingdom_ and just because he's a prince he thinks he can take you away from me!"

"He's not taking me anywhere! He says the fairy kingdom is _everywhere, so _I'll be right here!"

"Logically, that makes no sense!"

"The only one who cares about logic is you!"

"Now, now, fighting will get us-" Kakashi steps forward, his eye curving into his version of a smile, "Now, now, fighting will get us-"

Both father and son turn to yell at him.

"Not now!"

"Who are you tell me what to do!" Naruto complains, "Iruka, who are you to tell me I'm moving fast?"

"That's not-Kakashi was just-"

"I am your father." Kakashi said in a serious tone.

"What!" Naruto staggered backward.

Iruka did the same.

"I gave Iruka the seed that he nourished, and eventually blossomed into you, Naruto. I am-"

"The way he says it..." Iruka blushed, "Naruto, he is the fairy-"

"Juunin-" Kakashi corrected.

"He was just keeping me company until you retur-"

"You can call me papa."

"He cannot!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Naruto yelled without thinking.

The situation was very confusing.

Iruka sighed.

"Why do I have wings now?" Naruto asked, his short attention span getting the best of him.

"Um, that was a surprise to me too." Iruka scratched at the scar on his nose, raising an eyebrow at Kakashi.

"Ah, young Naruto." Kakashi stepped forward, "It is simple enough, the answer to all of your questions."

"Okay! What are they?"

Kakashi sighs and puts away his book in order to take out a larger, older book instead. Naruto didn't know how it all fit in his vest. Magic?

"You are a child of the sun."

"What?"

"In the beginning of time, each of the elements were allowed a seed. These nine seeds-"

"Aren't there only four elements?"

"Don't interrupt. I'm not talking about earth, wind, and fire. These elements are older. And numbered. You're number nine."

"I'm the last?"

"In a sense. There are others, scattered across the world. Some closer than you might think."

Kakashi's eyes twinkled.

"Wait... I still don't know why I have wings."

"Bonding with a fairy of the elements."

"The same elements as me or the new ones?"

"Why are you not letting me be cryptic, Naruto?" Kakashi rolls his eyes, "He is the second. And that is all I will say on the matter."

"But-"

"That is all." He closed the large book with an equally large sound.

"... Naruto bonded with the other boy." Iruka's eye twitched.

"Yes. And that is how he was granted wings."

"Naruto... has a _bond _with the other boy."

Kakashi just stared at him.

"And now he's marrying him." Iruka's eye twitched.

* * *

><p>"So this Naruto's a guy."<p>

"Yes."

"And Gaara says they're getting married."

"You're acting as if its news to me. The ceremony is in an hour. Now stop fidgeting." Temari finishes tying the decorative garment around her brother's neck, just resisting the urge to strangle him with it when Kankuro decides to whine some more.

"What about the girl thats always following Gaara around?"

"Sasuke?"

The two share a chuckle before Temari swats him for insulting Gaara's loyal bodyguard that they all respected and all of the women _admired._

"Matsuri would make a good wife." Kankuro decides.

Shikamaru, who came into the room fully dressed and polished, scoffed.

"Gaara doesn't need a wife." Shikamaru claimed.

"But-"

"Gaara needs a companion. And that companion isn't his _student._"

"But-"

"The last thing Gaara had an interest in was his teddy bear. If Gaara wants to marry him, who are we to question his sanity?"

"I wasn't questioning-"

"We all were."

* * *

><p>"Do you, Naruto Uzumaki Umino, take Prince Gaara of the Sand, as your lawfully wedded husband?"<p>

Naruto looked around him, with all of his large family and new small friends smiling down at him. Then he looked at Gaara, who was blankfaced as ever. Behind him, Sasuke's eye was twitching.

He looked at Kakashi who said he was also a priest, holding yet another book in his hands as he smiled at him. Or at least he thought so. His eye was curved as if he were smiling.

He looked back at Gaara.

He looked at everyone and their smiles frozen in place, some smiles fading, some looking annoyed.

"Just say yes!" He hears from inside the crowd, and is startled out of his lack of thoughts.

He couldn't take the mole as his husband. It made his skin crawl.

The thought of spending the rest of his life with Gaara gave him goosebumps. But they weren't bad goosebumps. He was sort of looking forward to it.

"I'll take him!" Naruto decides.

Instead of the small sand-filled breeze from before, Gaara grabs for Naruto's hands and tugs him forward.

Their lips brush.

"Oh." Naruto murmured as a blush overtook his face. The crowd cheered and threw flower petals into the air.

And they lived happily and, in Naruto's case, loudly ever after.


End file.
